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Compare your struggle as a well off person attending an elite university to what your poor counterparts were doing at the same time. They were cleaning bathroom

by staunch 11y ago

Compare your struggle as a well off person attending an elite university to what your poor counterparts were doing at the same time. They were cleaning bathrooms, waiting for buses in the cold, dealing with criminals in bad neighborhoods, and living in apartments with cockroaches. While they worried about buying food and paying the rent, you "worked your ass off" doing homework in total safety and comfort. But I was wrong. Poor kids who get into MIT ("Recipients of a Federal Pell Grant") only graduate at a rate of 87%. It's just the wealthy students with such incredibly high graduation rates. http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/students/graduation_rates.html http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/students/graduation_rates.html

humanrebar 11y ago
Poor kids don't make it to top tier schools. It's hard to have good "intangibles" when you have to work while going to high school to pay for your own room and board. Maybe you can get a 4.0 and good SAT scores, but so can a 50,000 other teenagers.
- remarkEon 11y ago
  -> It's hard to have good "intangibles" when you have to work while going to high school to pay for your own room and board. OTOH, that sounds like a pretty darn good "intangible" to me and would certainly warrant further consideration in my book.
  - humanrebar 11y ago
    I agree, but even if you considered that a good intangible, there are many students who have to work to support themselves and their families. By definition, the things the 1% do to be impressive will always be more unusual and stand out. You pilot your own hot air balloon, are fluent in Farsi, and put in 500 hours helping the underprivileged(a) write resumes? Impressive. (a) If you are underprivileged, you might have time to volunteer somewhere, but typically supporting your family doesn't count as helping the underprivileged. Changing grandma's bedpans isn't volunteer work, and it's kind of exploitative to make that a major portion of your college application.
ssalazar 11y ago
> Compare your struggle as a well off person attending an elite university to what your poor counterparts were doing at the same time. They were cleaning bathrooms, waiting for buses in the cold, dealing with criminals in bad neighborhoods, and living in apartments with cockroaches. No, nobody at my school was doing this[1]. Top-tier schools leverage their massive endowments to provide substantial need-based financial aid. Basically their mission is to ensure, if you get in, that there is absolutely no financial friction to attend. In one high-profile instance Princeton University provided a full scholarship entirely from its own endowment to a formerly homeless undocumented immigrant who went on to become his class's salutatorian[2]. [1] except the cockroaches but that applied to everyone as many of the dorms were quite old. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-el_Padilla_Peralta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-el_Padilla_Peralta

by staunch 11y ago

humanrebar 11y ago

Poor kids don't make it to top tier schools. It's hard to have good "intangibles" when you have to work while going to high school to pay for your own room and board. Maybe you can get a 4.0 and good SAT scores, but so can a 50,000 other teenagers.

remarkEon 11y ago
-> It's hard to have good "intangibles" when you have to work while going to high school to pay for your own room and board. OTOH, that sounds like a pretty darn good "intangible" to me and would certainly warrant further consideration in my book.
- humanrebar 11y ago
  I agree, but even if you considered that a good intangible, there are many students who have to work to support themselves and their families. By definition, the things the 1% do to be impressive will always be more unusual and stand out. You pilot your own hot air balloon, are fluent in Farsi, and put in 500 hours helping the underprivileged(a) write resumes? Impressive. (a) If you are underprivileged, you might have time to volunteer somewhere, but typically supporting your family doesn't count as helping the underprivileged. Changing grandma's bedpans isn't volunteer work, and it's kind of exploitative to make that a major portion of your college application.

ssalazar 11y ago

> Compare your struggle as a well off person attending an elite university to what your poor counterparts were doing at the same time. They were cleaning bathrooms, waiting for buses in the cold, dealing with criminals in bad neighborhoods, and living in apartments with cockroaches. No, nobody at my school was doing this[1]. Top-tier schools leverage their massive endowments to provide substantial need-based financial aid. Basically their mission is to ensure, if you get in, that there is absolutely no financial friction to attend. In one high-profile instance Princeton University provided a full scholarship entirely from its own endowment to a formerly homeless undocumented immigrant who went on to become his class's salutatorian[2]. [1] except the cockroaches but that applied to everyone as many of the dorms were quite old. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-el_Padilla_Peralta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-el_Padilla_Peralta